Zane slowly lifted his head after a lengthy session of updating Pixal, watching his metal form in the mirror. He grimaced, shaking his head. "I am..not fond of this. But I am alive.." That was good, right? He had survived his explosion and exile. A soft voice echoes in his mind. 'It has been eight months since you were rebuilt, Zane. It has been approximately six months since the battle at the Corridor of Elders. Thank you for helping me update my systems.' Six months..he'd spent a lot of time with her in his room, hadn't he? He'd only come out occasionally for his turn to cook. But..Deity had been rather silent to him lately. She wouldn't eat what he cooked. Was she ill? Another soft echo from Pixal. 'Zane, perhaps you should go speak with her. You have been rather..attached to me for six months. And while I am grateful for your company, Deity's serotonin levels are dangerously low-much more so than they were during our time on the island. She does not verbally respond to you anymore. Did you not have a very important bond with your sister?' The ice droid shivered when he saw himself in the mirror again. 'Are you alright, Zane? There was a sharp decrease in your mood.'He shook his head and forced himself to smile. "I..will be fine." Pixal knew this was a lie-but she did not question it. Zane rubbed his face, slowly tugging his bedroom door open and turning the light out. As he left, he paused. Should..he bother her this late? He glanced at the time on his internal monitor. Three in the morning..perhaps she'd fallen into a sleep forced by her being exhausted?
Pixal shook her head on his internal screen, as if to signify that was wishful thinking on his part. Zane slowly made his way down the hall and thought about it. He'd been..rather neglectful of his little sister. Perhaps not the smartest thing he's ever done. Making his way to Cole and Deity's room, Zane carefully opened the unlocked door and peeked inside. "...Deity? Are you awake Nightingale?" Zane's voice is quiet..he's scared to bother her-he'd neglected her for six months, so Zane was a little afraid of her response to him suddenly speaking to her. Zane knew Deity often relied on him to fall asleep sometimes-and in general just enjoyed her brother's company. Deity visibly flinches when she hears her nickname-the one just for Zane's use only, resonate in the new metallic voice of the droid. But nothing else. She doesn't respond in the slightest to Zane's quiet attempts to get her attention. Deity's eyes are seemingly interested in elsewhere on the ceiling. "Deity I.." Zane hesitantly continues, trying again. She doesn't even move this time. "Please..?" Deity slowly turns over and leans into Cole, lifting one of his arms and draping it over her side. She tugged the blanket over her head and went still again. Zane sighed, slowly closing the door. He messed up. Bad. Usually she..would at least respond to him in some manner if she wasn't upset. Slowly closing the door, Zane began silently heading out of the ship. Deity wasn't talking to him. He deserved that.
Deity slowly awoke that next morning, feeling herself trapped in Cole's arms. She didn't remember when exactly she'd fallen asleep-but she knew she was missing a chunk of time. Cole gave her a slow, gentle squeeze. "Deity...You awake?" Deity was half under Cole, and she was wheezing a little. "Ye..Yes." Cole peeked one eye open and looked down at his girlfriend. "Am I crushing you again?" He lifted his body up and away from her, ruffling her hair a little. "Sorry, Songbird. I know I'm a bit bigger than you." Cole sat up, stretching and watching his girlfriend of six and a half years. "Hey.." Cole tugged her up. She wasn't really responsive. "You alright?" Deity felt her chin being lifted, and she looked up at Cole. "Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine. I mean, I..I don't sleep a lot, you know." Cole nodded a little and stroked her cheek, over her scar. She didn't shiver anymore when he did that. "Just remember you can tell me stuff, I mean.." The master of earth rubbed the back of his neck. "I..I don't want you to bottle stuff up and then Zane finds you again.." She bristled slightly at the mention of the droid, taking a breath to relax and get out of bed. "I don't think Zane needs to be bothered with such a thing. Besides he's..catching up with Pixal." She stretched and went off to their bathroom to change, coming out in her sparring top and shorts. "Maybe Kai is awake enough and we can spar after breakfast." Heading out of the room and into the kitchen, she walked past the table and opened the fridge.
Jay came into the kitchen after his sister, rubbing his eyes and tugging a box of Zap Puffs out of the cabinet. He gently shook the box, frowning. "Aw man..we forgot to grab cereal on our resupply mission! Zane, we're out of.." The lightning elemental paused, turning around to look near the stove. "Deity, Zane isn't here-" He frowned when the song elemental didn't respond, and kept raiding the fridge. "Deity, can you hear me?" The cyborg slowly lifted her head from the door of the fridge with a cheese stick in her mouth. She rose an eyebrow. "And..?" Jay frowned and lifted a note and some cash from the kitchen table. Jay read the note silently to himself, his eyes slowly widening. "Deity, Zane is gONE-!" The lightning elemental's voice cracked with worry. Deity's facial expression gained a look of disbelief, until Jay handed her the note. Deity read over it. 'I've prepared the meals for the week, and there's money underneath this note just in case you want extra ingredients (takeout). -Zane.' Deity gripped the note for a second and looked around the kitchen. She bolted from the kitchen and headed down the hall, bumping past Kai and nearly knocking him down. Deity opened Zane's room and looked around it. Empty. Everything was the same-but Zane wasn't there. Probably went to go spend more time with Pixal. She thought Pixal was good for her brother, truly. But..he seemed to want to spend more time with her, and had seemingly cut Deity out of his life. She tossed the crumpled up note on his bed, slamming the door to the ice droid's room.
"Jay, if he was gone, he would've packed or something." She rolled her eyes and sat back down at the kitchen table, eating her breakfast. A week passed, and Zane hadn't..come back. Deity didn't think much of it..until he hadn't come back for a full month. She made sure Cole was asleep, slowly slipping out of bed and swiping Cole's bike keys. She paused when her prosthetic leg groaned slightly, she had trained pretty hard the day before, so the material it was made from was a little stressed. Looking over at Cole, Deity rolled her eyes. He was still snoring away. She walked over and pressed a brief kiss to his forehead, tugging the blanket over him. Deity tiredly changed into her lavender ninja suit, leaving the room and heading down to the vehicle bay. They were parked close enough to the street..so Deity tugged her helmet on, unlatched the bay doors and revved the bike, speeding off down the street below. Zane was missing. Was it her fault..? The familiar feeling of heartache and despair bubbled up inside her. The same one that had come to stay after her beloved ice wielding brother had passed away, and gone missing. He was..fine, right? She kept her body down against the bike as she drove, making sure to keep her eyes on the road. Deity seemed to look everywhere, exhausted gaze watching the road ahead of her. No don't fall asleep, come on body! She seemed to be pleading with her body as the sun rose on the horizon-and another painful pang went through her. Zane loved the sunrise. He'd once described it to her early one morning when she was still blind and had slept over because she'd stayed in the ship too late one night-before she moved in and started her relationship with Cole.
It had been by no means a literal-or very scientific description, but it was very.. Zane. She'd walked out to the deck with him-feeling her way along with her bare feet and her hearing, and sat down with him. It was surely a rare moment for the particularly grumpy droid. "The sunrise is a warm reminder that we have survived another battle. Another fight." He said, handing her a mug of tea. It had taken her a moment to grasp it, Zane had handed it off to her right side. "A blend of light reds and oranges-sometimes ever changing, never the same amount. A reminder that every day will be different. Warm and vibrant, like the people in our lives. The people we cannot go another sunrise without." The droid had been silent after that..but Deity hadn't known he was a droid then. He sounded human to her-and she'd continued to treat him as such ever since-even when he gave her the tea to regain her sight. Deity sped along the road, forcing herself to stay awake. "Gotta find..Ice Cube.." Her eyes went half lidded for a moment-then she forcibly shook her head and tried to focus. Now was about the time she slipped into a bout of sleep she couldn't control. Usually. But she was driving! She couldn't fall asleep. Bleary eyed, Deity watched the scenery on the side of the road turn to sand. "Fuck.." Deity tended to curse a little bit when she was tired. "How long have I been driving..?" Was she in the Sea of Sand? She shook her head to try and clear it, veering to the side a little on the road from lack of control due to fatigue. "Zane, can you hear me?" She tried the com link in Cole's bike. Nothing. Maybe he turned it off..or it was damaged.
Deity shivered and tensed, steadying the bike again. If Zane had been off with Pixal this long..no! No Zane wouldn't just up and leave without any explanation..not for this long..unless he'd been kidnapped. Or..he needed to be alone. The tired haze over her mind made her think of how she'd ignored his attempts to speak to her a month ago-when he'd finally tried. She'd been upset-she felt left behind and neglected by Zane. Her brother had promised to always be there to talk-or if she couldn't sleep..most nights his door was shut and all was silent inside-not even the faint hum of his projection program running-so she'd assumed he was either asleep or talking to Pixal silently in his head. When he'd come out to cook-he hadn't even spoke to her, despite her trying to talk to him. Maybe it was her fault, she thought as she tried her best to keep Cole's bike steady under her. Maybe it was a little of both of their faults. Deity's eyes felt so..heavy. She'd been up for over ten hours-counting the day before, and last night. "Need to..stay awake..find Zane.." She felt her body jolt-as if she'd stopped herself from falling. Realizing she was losing control of the bike-and that she was falling asleep while driving, Deity did her best to apply pressure to both the front and back brake of the bike evenly. This worked as well as could be expected-due to the weak pressure on both from being tired. Shifting the bike sideways, Deity kept control just long enough thanks to the brief adrenaline boost from crashing, and skidded off the pavement, losing control of the bike as it hit the sand. A brief thought slipped into her head as the bike hit a rock in the sand and she fell off the bike forwards, headed for the ground.
"At least sand is soft."